Japan Dumpling Mystery Deepens With Poisoning Claim

The mystery surrounding an outbreak of food poisoning in Japan that has been linked to Chinese made dumplings deepened today after the health minister, Yoichi Masuzoe, said they may have been deliberately contaminated.

The case came to light last week with reports that 10 people had fallen ill after eating frozen dumplings produced by Tianyang Food Processing in Hebei province, China. The victims suffered from nausea and diarrhea, and a five year old girl briefly fell into a coma.

The reports sparked panic across Japan and criticism that China had failed to deliver on a promise to tighten up safety standards after a string of scares involving exports of contaminated pet food, toothpaste and other items.

Though the number of confirmed cases remains small, almost 4,000 people have sought advice or complained of feeling unwell in the past few days after eating the dumplings and other frozen imports, the health ministry said.

"The circumstantial evidence we have so far suggests there is a high possibility that a crime has been committed," Masuzoe said. "That means we must let the police investigate. I hope the case can be resolved through our cooperation with China."

Police reportedly suspect the dumplings were contaminated in China, as the offending chemical - a highly toxic pesticide called methamidophos - is not used in Japan.

But tests conducted at the factory where the dumplings were made found no traces of pesticide, fueling suspicions that they were deliberately poisoned en route to Japan.

Other government officials, apparently irritated by Masuzoe's comments, acted quickly to prevent the outbreak from turning into a diplomatic incident.

"Some people are boldly speculating, but we should not carelessly talk about criminality before all the facts are known," said Nobutaka Machimura, the government's top spokesman.

Police, however, are refusing to rule out foul play after finding traces of the chemical on the exterior of the dumpling packets, and in much higher concentrations than would be considered normal for residual traces of pesticides used on crops.

The dumplings' Japanese distributor, JT Foods, has recalled millions of packets, the dish has been removed from menus in schools and restaurants and several stores have stopped selling Chinese food altogether.

Japan is heavily reliant on China for food imports, which, excluding livestock, were worth 6 trillion yen last year.

Tsuyoshi Yoneda, head of the criminal affairs bureau at the national police agency, said the case was a "serious threat to the food safety in our country" while Yasuo Fukuda, the Japanese prime minister, called it a "threat to national security."

China, keen to resolve any questions over food safety just months before the Olympics opens in Beijing, has vowed to cooperate with the investigation.

The outbreak comes soon after Beijing said it had successfully raised safety standards in its food industry, and officials were quick to play down Japanese reports that negligence is behind the scare.

Liu Jianchao, a foreign ministry spokesman, called on the Japanese media not to jump to conclusions. "Only a calm analysis of the whole situation will be beneficial to the investigation," he told reporters.